Guwahati News Desk: In order to mark the 60th anniversary of their countries’ defence treaty, the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressed their desire to further strengthen their ties while they exchanged messages during the occasion, on Sunday.
According to sources, the North Korean leader, in a message to the Chinese President stated that, it is “the fixed stand” of his government to “ceaselessly develop the friendly and cooperative relations” between the two countries.
To which, President Xi replied that “he is willing to provide greater happiness to the two countries … By strengthening the strategic communication with (Kim) to properly control the direction of the advance of the China-(North Korea) relations and by steadily leading the relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries to a new stage.”
According to the experts, as North Korea grapples with economic hardships exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and crippling US-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme, it has been expected to seek greater support from its major ally and aid benefactor, China.
As for China, it sees preventing a North Korean collapse as something very crucial to its security interests and so, it agrees to boost ties with North Korea and other traditional allies amidst fierce rivalry with the United States.
Although, North Korea and China had established diplomatic relations in 1949, yet the ties between the two countries go way back to the 1930s, when Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong Un, led the Korean guerrillas, as they fought alongside Chinese soldiers against the Japanese colonizers in northeastern China.
According to the 1961 “Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance,” both North Korea and China are committed to offering one another immediate military and other aid in the event of an attack.
Photo | AP